DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - For
the last five days, over 2200 participants from 96 countries met in
the mountains of the Swiss ski resort of Davos where they have met
for 33 of their 34 year history. During that time, the businessmen
and women who come here are given top level briefings by world leaders
and experts on "the state of the world." Because the World Economic
Forum is a non-profit organization and has consultative status with
the United Nations, participants have, over the years, become familiar
with the global agenda of the United Nations through more than 200
workshops which offer the latest economic and political data from
politicians to academicians. Based on the actions and agreements of
these CEO's, it is clear they see their role and responsibilities
changing in a globalized world.

This year's theme was, "Taking
Responsibility for Tough Choices" which reflects the uncertainty of
the challenges facing the world today: the spread of global terrorism,
weapons of mass destruction, the value of the dollar, the global economy,
world poverty, peace in the Middle East, global warming, and corporate
governance.

Yearly the composition of participant's
changes. Besides CEO's from 1,000 of the world's most powerful corporations,
world governmental leaders and leaders from the United Nations and
its agencies and commissions are in attendance, along with experts
in the fields of science, medicine and climate warming. Over the past
several years, non-governmental organizations and religious leaders
have been given a seat at the table. The market capitalization of
the corporations represented this year is $8T, about 20% of the total
global gross national product of $40T.

In other years, people like David
Rockefeller, Lord Rothschild, Yasser Arafat, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, Javier Solana, and Hillary Clinton have been present.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton addressed participants both as
President and as Founder of the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation
for the past two years.

World Economic Forum attendees
have graduated from the world's major Ivy League schools, such as
Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Wellesley, the London School of Economics and Oxford in England. Furthermore,
a number of them are members of key global organizations such as the
Council on Foreign Relations, the Tri-Lateral Commission, the Royal
Institute for International Affairs, and the Prince of Wales International
Business Leaders Forum. Sheiks, kings, queens, princes and princesses
grace the Forum as well. This year, Britain's Prime Minister Tony
Blair, who is president of the G8 and who will also take the presidency
of the European Union, returned after a four year absence. Other G8
leaders included German Chancellor Helmut Schroder, and a televised
speech by French President Jacques Chirac.

This year also reflected the globalization
of the world as presidents from Poland, Ukraine, Brazil, Turkey, Tanzania,
South Africa, and Nigeria were present. For the first time the Chinese
Executive Vice-Premier Huang Ju addressed the plenary sessions along
with scores of Chinese businessmen and women. They were eager to do
what the World Economic Forum is about-and that is network for business
opportunities.

While the Bush Administration did
not send the whole cabinet, as President Clinton said the year he
came, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick, and John B. Taylor, US Undersecretary of the Treasury for
International Affairs was present along with Senators Joseph Biden
(D-Delaware), Christopher J. Dodd, (D-Connecticut), Orrin G. Hatch,
(R-Utah), Richard C. Shelby (R-Alabama) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon)
were present along with Congressmen Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts),
(Sander M. Levin, (D-Michigan), James A. Leach (R-Iowa) and Colorado
Governor Bill Owens.

Besides the normal economic and
geo-political issues that are covered, this year was very different
in that there was a very strong emphasis on the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. There were constant comments about and workshops
on poverty, Africa, infectious diseases, the millennium development
goals, and global governance. The CEO's were given a thorough introduction
to the UN Millennium Goals which includes reducing by 50% the number
of people living on less than $1 a day and the number of people who
suffer from hunger, ensuring a complete primary education for all
children in the world, reducing by 66% the mortality rate among children
under 5 five, reducing by 50% and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS
as well as malaria and other major diseases, integrating the principles
of sustainable development into country policies, reducing the number
of people without access to clean drinking water and improving the
lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2015. The UN estimates they
will need $50B a year to accomplish these goals.

What became controversial is how
to get the $50B a year as soon as possible. President Jacques Chirac
opened the Annual Meeting by calling for a number of different forms
of global taxation. Because it would take five to ten years to get
a system of global taxation in place, a number of key leaders are
calling for an increase in Overseas Development Assistance-ODA. Begun
30 years ago by developed countries, it provides debt relief, food
aid, technical cooperation, and emergency and disaster relief. The
U.S. currently gives the most of any of the G8 countries.

A number of key leaders and officials
are calling for the developed countries to raise their contributions
to Overseas Development Assistance from 0.2% of GNP to 0.7% of GNP
which was agreed to and promised by them at a number of UN meetings
in the past. For the United States, it would mean raising our support
by another $55B a year. Furthermore, as if almost to piggyback on
ODA, Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown has suggested an "International
Finance Facility" which would then take the promised ODA contributions
and leverage them in the financial markets to get immediate monies
to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.

At the World Economic Forum, Britain
pledged $1.8B over the next 15 years which will come from raising
their ODA from its present rate to 0.7% of GNP. France and Germany
have committed to raising theirs ODA as well. Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs,
Chair and Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University, challenged
the United States to raise ODA to 0.7% in light of the $80B additional
monies just requested for Iraq.

There is no lack of compassion
at the World Economic Forum. Many of these CEO's are either already
partnering with a number of UN agencies such as the World Food Program,
the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Red Cross, while many
other companies are in the process of getting connected. Dutch CEO
Peter Bakker of TPG, is a global provider of express mail and logistics.
He told an audience of being able to get food and water on the ground
the day after the South Seas Tsunami by partnering with the World
Food Organization and the pride of his employees in being able to
help.

After a speech by Tanzania's President
Benjamin William Mkapa, actress Sharon Stone stood up during the question
and answer portion of the plenary session and challenged participants
to meet his country's need of providing malaria nets for his people.
Within ten minutes she raised $1M.

What is on the agenda for 2005?
Supporting an increase in Overseas Development Assistance, the International
Finance Facility, implementing the Millennium Development Goals, Climate
Change, finishing the World Trade Organization Doha Round which includes
tearing down the trade barriers of African countries and eliminating
cotton and agricultural subsidies from rich countries, supporting
climate change, and education for children. Basically these are all
the goals and objectives of the United Nations. Australian Prime Minister
John Howard said, "If you really want to close the gap on the poverty
front, trade access will do more than anything else. It is the restrictive
access policies of the developed world, particularly in agriculture
that are locking out the exports of many undeveloped countries." In
the words of former Vice President Al Gore who took part in the closing
session, "We need to expand the boundaries of what is politically
feasible."

If this was not the World Economic
Forum, it could have been the meeting of a world parliament. These
CEO's see poverty as the key to all other problems in the world and
they understand and have the power to create business and jobs. They
also see the world as interconnected and themselves as world citizens.
For them, the global problems laid out at Davos are part of their
job: making the world a better place. Their desire to help the poor
and go to the rescue of those in need now make them "Statesmen-CEO's."

Go to the World Economic Forum
website: weforum.org. The full
speech of Jacques Chirac available in English translation is available
for you to hear his speech on global taxation from the webcast. Also
listen to "G8 and Africa - Rhetoric or Reality" and the Closing Plenary
with Al Gore on Climate Change.

Joan Veon is a businesswoman and international
reporter, having covered 64 Global meetings around the world in the last
ten years. Please visit her website: www.womensgroup.org.
To get a copy of her WTO report, send $10.00 to The Women's International
Media Group, Inc. P. O. Box 77, Middletown, MD 21769. For an information
packet, please call 301-371-0541

What became controversial
is how to get the $50B a year as soon as possible. President Jacques Chirac
opened the Annual Meeting by calling for a number of different forms of
global taxation. Because it would take five to ten years to get a system
of global taxation in place, a number of key leaders are calling for an
increase in Overseas Development Assistance-ODA.